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If I'm not mistaken. Comes off the books same time as Uggla, so we should be able to resign.

The jump up of 5 million for next year is fine because the team will be getting 25 million more from the TV contract from the league. Our payroll is around 89 million right now, we have about 9 million to play with in season or of Wren wants, to buy out some arbitration from some of the kids. Next year we will probably have double digit millions more to spend on salaries.

I love Prado, but he was gonna demand 10-12 million for his contract extension, while we were thinking more like 8.

We kept Simba, Bethancourt, Venters, O, and Teheran.

And Chris Johnson is a solid 3rd baseman as well. He and Francisco should be fine. (And to Chipper, the door is open)

Also we still have 10 million left to spend

The best you can judge a trade before players hit the field, it breaks down like this for me. (my reasoning follows)

Prado/Upton: Long term is likely to favor the Braves, assuming they coudl not get something worked out with Prado contract wise.

Braves with a slight edge, but mostly a wash.

Chris Johnson/ATL Prospects: Johnson is young, proven and in a position of need. The prospects are good, young and not proven and from a position of strength.

Braves, but its not like AZ got hosed.

The exclosure by the braves of the salary difference makes the whole abbitration fiasco make more sense. In my opinion the braves are definitely taking a gamble, that their finanaces have forced them into. (It doesn't seem unreasonable for a guy that is going to command nearly 7 million in arbitration to turn down 8 million in a long term contract. In fact, 11 million in that situation sounds that a pretty reasonable starting point for a negotiation.) The reason I think it is a gamble begin with the younger upton's splits outside of AZ (not favorable). everyone has their own favorite metric, but his OPS drops 250 points away from AZ (924 to 670)! That is alarming in and of itself. Secondly, Prado has an insane work ethic and is a clubhouse favorite, while the Uptons have been described by multiple people with close connections as "enigmatic"(I'll list one to illustrate my point, but a google search of the words upton and enigmatic gives you over 3 million hits. http://rayscoloredglasses.com/2012/0...pton-brothers/). So the braves definitely lose on the character-side of things as long as personalities don't widely change.

Do they gain on the field? Potentially. It depends on which Uptons they get. But I would go as far as probably. I put Prado swapped for Justin at about a wash.

Chris Johnson on the other hand is a particular wildcard. As you have to compare him to either an imaginary player the braves would have got to play the LF/3B role instead or the platoon of Fransisco/Reed. This is the part of the trade that I think is a big win for the Braves. Johnson's numbers do not vary as much home vs away (about 70 points if you look at OPS 810 vs 743). I have not seen the braves connected with anyone in the LF/3B role that is as favorable and that is not even taking in to consideration his contract.

Lead off is an issue. IE the braves still dont have one. And while they do have money to spend, they do not have a position to put one at. So we will all hope that Mr. Simmons makes that transistion as easily as he did the transition to the majors.

The prospects involved are substantial, although from an area of strength for us. And this is why it makes sense for the snakes. Ahmed is a legit prospect and we all know about Delgado, but both of these "headliners" come from positions of great strength for the braves farm. Zeke is also a strong prospect (in the braves top 10 by some sources) I know very little about the other prospect. But bottom line with the prospects, its not as big of a haul as the M's wanted to give up. And its from positions that their progress in our organization either is or will be blocked.

We all will. You can argue he saved the 2010 season. So versatile and stepped into positions that he'd me ER really played every time someone got hurt. And busted his tail everyday. He will be back in Atlanta June 28-30th with Arizona. Braves fans should give him a standing ovation.

We all will. You can argue he saved the 2010 season. So versatile and stepped into positions that he'd me ER really played every time someone got hurt. And busted his tail everyday. He will be back in Atlanta June 28-30th with Arizona. Braves fans should give him a standing ovation.

To say that you can't worry about K's is absurd though. I couldn't stand watching Bourn strike out every single time he was up with runners on. It's frustrating.

I'm not saying don't worry about the Ks. But the potential and production totally outweighs strikeouts. Jason Heyward struck out over 150 times last year and was still one of the most productive players in the NL.

We have potentially 3 30-30 players in our outfield. No other team can say that.

Braves outfield will be incredible offensively and defensively, one thing people aren't talking about is these guys arms. Good luck stretching doubles to triples and tagging home on these guys. Losing Prado really stinks means we will have to stay healthy. Prado played all over the place when people went down. Chris Johnson is a hometown kid with some legit talent hopefully a homecoming will make him feel comfortable and propel him to a great year. Braves just added a lot of excitement, beating the Nats will be tough though they have made some great moves this off season.

I'm really going to miss Prado, but I think it was definitely worth it to do the trade. We get to keep Teheren so he can be in the rotation this year and get a player under team control for another three years rather than one. Getting to keep Graham is also big for us. Can't wait to see the Upton brothers on opening day this year.

I'm just saying, but Prado being gone kind of sets up for a Chipper Jones return midseason to make that final push...

I'm really going to miss Prado, but I think it was definitely worth it to do the trade. We get to keep Teheren so he can be in the rotation this year and get a player under team control for another three years rather than one. Getting to keep Graham is also big for us. Can't wait to see the Upton brothers on opening day this year.

I'm just saying, but Prado being gone kind of sets up for a Chipper Jones return midseason to make that final push...